CB and Gary recap and SBC series win and a week with two walk off victories. Brody Connors and Maddox Jack hop on to tell their ODU story.

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Yeah.

What's up, Monarch fans?

Welcome to the Hudson Homers Podcast.

We're coming to you from a victory Sunday, recording a day- Yes.

... early after the second walkoff win of the week and a series win.

CB, how's it going?

It's good.

I usually have time to get my, my voice back from yelling and I don't

feel it's- I feel extremely sunburned from actually having sun today.

Uh, but yeah, we're great, man.

That was, uh, yeah, second walk off of the week.

That is, so that's four walk offs in our last nine home games.

It's pretty

solid.

We didn't have won all last season.

Now four in the last nine home games, and we won seven of those nine games.

Um, so that's, you know, for a team that's been inconsistent and been struggling

all year, this is what you wanna do is win some games and, and show the grit.

We've had to come from behind in pretty much every one of those too.

It's not like we've been tied.

I mean, so I think, I think almost all of them have been, we were

f- behind and had to then win.

Yeah.

And this, today is definitely no different.

We were down four to one at one point, made it four to two.

And honestly, it was looking a little bleak there in the later innings.

But then just get some magic there in the ninth inning.

You get a guy on and Scotty Young comes through for a second walk off of the week.

Yeah.

Can't believe it.

Yeah.

I mean, that's, you know like I said, that's, that's just magic.

That's, you know, when you ... And, and Maddox Jack who had not had a win

in Kaiser's first year and after being hurt last year, hadn't had a win and

now he got two this week in the same- That thing didn't even last two minutes.

That's crazy.

Oh,

man.

The underbetters of clean house today.

We're two minutes on the timestamp and the

curtain's falling.

That, that barely lasted.

Yeah.

But, but yeah, so for Maddix, I mean, again, just the, the weirdness of baseball

that you don't have a win in your career.

Again, not a very short career, not like he's had a lot of opportunities,

um, but he only had one other decision.

But it gets two this week and, and both of them walk offs by Scott.

Scott Young is gonna eat for free at the Jack household for the rest of his life.

That's for sure.

Yeah.

I think so.

And, uh, this is the first conference series that I have not been able to

get down there for at least one game.

And then of course, naturally, that's the Sunbelt series that go and win.

But have no fear.

CB was there getting all the great shots today.

I don't know how far

that-

I

mean, as we know, he's a expressive guy, he's a fun guy and he's, he's

great for some walk off shots.

I mean, he is, he does some, he has a good time.

He's out there.

I told him today he's aura farming, he's out there-

To really make sure everybody knows how, how cool he is

and how much fun he's having.

Like, it's great.

I mean, there's never any doubt.

Always high energy, always super positive guy.

Yeah.

So for him to get the two walk offs this week, in his final

season of playing collegiate baseball too, I think that's big.

And we talked to him earlier this year, he's like, "I just wanna go out and

have fun. I wanna play baseball." Yeah.

And it, it took a little while to get there, but he

is definitely doing that now.

And to have two, uh, photos walking off the field covered in, uh

water from the Gatorade cooler, you've done something right.

Well, a lot of guys run, he's the guy that just stops and says,

"Hit me with that water." He's like, he's like, "I, I deserve it.

I got it.

" Yeah, this one, and this one actually ended up in the, uh, the

newspaper the other day, apparently.

Yeah, Virginia Pilot, which is-

Yeah.

... it's

cool.

I think he got accredited to ODU Athletics and not CB

Wilkins, but

that's okay.

We're not gonna, we're not gonna have the whole thing about how

nobody ever credits it ever.

You see a bazillion pictures a day and nobody ever knows what photographer

took it because nobody cares because they only care about the subject.

So I'm not gonna ... I never worry about it.

I appreciate, I know that our, our guys, Aaron and, and, uh, and Mike and

the monarchist and you all care, uh-

Yes.

you know, which is nice.

But again, I, it's one of those battles.

It's like, man, whatever.

It's like it's cool.

That's a picture of Scotty doing a cool thing.

That's what matters in the picture.

It, it is.

And I'm pumped for Scotty.

I shot him Instagram message the other day after VCU.

I guess old heads still care about beating VCU.

I know- Yes.

... that really isn't a rivalry anymore, especially for the younger crew.

Yeah.

But, uh, to get the season sweep of VCU and the way we did was pretty awesome too.

We, we didn't walk him off obviously because we're on the road in Richmond, but

the 9th didn't come back to go ahead- It's

close.

Yeah.

Walk him off this week.

That, that just felt good, but really, really important win today.

We were down four to one and body language on the field wasn't super great.

Uh, I was like, oh no, if we lose this one, I mean, it, it's gonna be tough

to just to get in the tournament.

And now- mm-hmm.

... we were doing some calculations, still some games to go, but kinda

sitting in that seventh, eight spot with a whole bunch of other people.

Yeah, I think coming into today, we were like down in 11, like tied for 11th.

Um, and then you see how bunched up it is.

You end up, you know, I think, I think we're tied, currently tied for seventh,

but all, with Arkansas State who we beat with Marshall who beat us in our series.

So I'm not s- again, if it was last weekend, we might try to figure out

this out because we still have two more weeks, we'll worry about that.

But just to point out, you know, I mean, and, and let me see, I pull it up in front

of me this, you know, you're talking about there's only a few games between anybody.

It's, it's such a bunch that, uh, you know, you, you win some games.

I mean, yeah, but they, they still only two games away from

being in, like, fifth place.

I mean, it's-

Yeah.

... very tight.

It doesn't take much.

Um, you got six more games, you go out and you can win, win, I mean, win a

series or two, hopefully win both of them, you put yourself in a good spot.

I mean, again, getting there is great, getting out of that first game, uh,

single elimination is even better.

Yeah.

And we still have a chance to do that.

It's, it's getting longer, I think, as the, the day goes on here, but,

uh, sitting at 11 and 13, if you can find a way to win four more games,

you're 15 and 15 and probably right on the borderline of s- of six,

seven, getting another episode here.

Um, and that, that's big.

I think if we lose today, we're on the outside of 10 looking in and a tough

road ahead with three at Coastal and then three at home against the Rival JMU.

And that's the thing is, you know, I mean, Coastal, obviously, they,

I mean, they lost a game today.

They've, they've been losing a few games in some of their series here.

Uh, they're not, like, totally unbeatable, uh, but they're extremely

good baseball team and they, you're gonna go on the road to their place.

It's gonna be a tough series.

So yeah, if you lost a day and you're sitting there outside of it, gotta go

play one of the best teams in the country at their place for a whole weekend,

you're really asking a lot of yourselves.

And, and, and like I said, we keep, you know, he keeps getting to the

point where it's like, I'm asking, we're, we're hoping for the team to

do things they haven't done all year, which is like right now, what we, I

don't think we won a, a road series.

Um, so that's, we want that next weekend, but it's also like we haven't done that.

Now again, you, you don't do it till you do it, so go do it.

Yeah.

They were two outs away from it though at Georgia State.

Right.

Yeah.

Um, so it's obviously better to play the last couple weeks, uh, and it's

leading to some good results of what we can do in the, in the postseason.

Um, but-

Yeah, I saw, speaking of Georgia State, I saw, uh, Jason Hartline, um, who of course

we remember as the, the great lefty, uh, from Greenbrier Christian holds the record

for, um, appearances for a career for old.

I mean, he was at the game today, he was here for the alumni weekend

that kind of got a little messed up.

Um, but he, he told me he was at that game last Sunday because he

said they get, they always give him a hard time about being bad luck.

Um, but he's like, he was at the games, right?

He lives in Atlanta, so he was right at that game at Georgia State on Sunday.

He's like, oh, that was-

Oh,

poor

Jason.That's not gonna knock that monitor off.

He, I think he had to leave early today, so I will, I will next time I see him

give him hard time about the fact that they didn't win till after he was gone.

Uh-

Gotta, gotta keep him out of there just watching the ESPNs feed.

Yeah.

Uh, well, uh, Coach Finwood not joining us today.

Obviously, he's just wrapping up from the ballpark.

Has plenty of other things before they, uh, have a midweek this week,

uh, but we're gonna have a couple guys stop by here throughout the episode.

So stay tuned for all of that.

Uh, but wanna kind of flash us back a little bit here to the VCU game- Yeah.

uh, just because that, that was looking like some of our midweeks that we've

had against some other teams where we're down four to nothing and we kinda look

dead and we get two there in the fourth.

And I, I feel like that, that changed the momentum and a pretty big

wave for us early on in that game.

Yeah, we're, I mean, again, we've, we've had too many

games where we've gotten down.

But this whole week, I mean, you think about when they gave up six,

uh, in the mid week, which is very impressive for a midweek game.

Yeah.

Um, gave up, uh, what, none in the, in the first game Friday, um, gave

up six, was it in the second game?

Yeah, six

in second game.

And then four in that game.

So that's, that's a very

I like math is hard, but that's what, uh, 10, um, 16 runs and four games.

I mean, that's, so it's like a four yard- Four, four runs

a

game.

Yeah, that's

not bad.

Yeah, something like that.

I mean, that's, that's pretty great.

Uh, we, we, if you had a four year for the season, we'd probably

be a, have a much better record.

Yeah.

Um, so that's showing things are moving in the right direction.

I mean, for the weekend, it was like a 3.3 three year A, I think.

Um, so 10 runs of three games and, and a shutout involved.

So yeah, things are, you know, yeah, it's too, too much of getting behind

early and having to fight back.

I mean, that, that wears you out, but at least they're getting used to doing it.

Yeah, they're not dragging their heads or not putting their head down, like, "Oh,

there's no shot." Now they are coming back and, and saying, "Hey, we got this.

" There's a lot more situational hitting, a lot more refusing to lose, a lot, a lot

less trying to hit it over the fence, um, especially this week because it was cold.

It wasn't going over the fence.

Yeah, cold, windy, had all kinds of things, uh, this weekend to keep the

ball in the ballpark for the most part.

And yeah, I mean, I, I think also just defensively, we

played a little bit better too.

Yeah.

Like, uh, I was just looking through.

We didn't really have- Well, Nick

Felton, center field, we'll do that.

I think we finally put it out of, you know, two thirds of the earth is covered

by water and the other third is covered by Nick Felton because it's accurate.

Yeah.

Uh, number three on sports centers, top 10 plays on Friday night and Saturday

morning, very well deserved there.

I mean, I don't know how he got-

But that day, um, he had that amazing catch, which was, by the angle, you

can't tell because I, I wasn't there either, but that, that's a lot deeper

in center field than you realize.

Yeah.

He was out there pretty much on the warning track, um, in right center.

Um, and then TJ made a great play, I'm not sure, I think it was in the second

game, the beginning of the second game.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and then that was about like the first or second inning and they were coming in

from the outfield and Scotty runs by me, he's like, "No, I gotta make a great one."

And he goes out, they go hit, then he goes out the field and

then he makes a great catch.

So it was like a lot of really good defense.

And, and, and again, we were strong around the infields.

Um, Tylers Zedalis had a couple of phenomenal plays.

He had that one, uh, leaping grab he got, um, and then he had

another one that was just like a

Yeah, that one where I just happened to get lucky.

I was already looking at Tyler because I, I kind of figured maybe the guy

might hit the ball at him and so he made this nice leaping catch.

Um, and he had one like an inning or two later that was like a screamer he was

able to just kind of catch at himself and, and easy, easy play after that.

Um, so yeah, I mean-

He's, he's been so good at third base defensively since he came in there.

And like you're just seeing the defense start to step up, like Will and Mav

look a really good up middle, um, just looking like a much better ball club

over the last couple weeks and then just, I think it paid off in a big way this

weekend and then Friday in that first game, we got the, the, the appearance of

the year from Darin Kuskie, six innings pitch, no runs, three hits, one walk, 11

strikeouts, 90 pitches for Darin Kuskie.

Uh, easily his best outing of the year and Ben Tanton came right behind him,

slammed the door and shut him out.

Yeah, I think they said that's the most strikeouts the team has

had in the game since like last March at, uh, Norfolk State.

We had like 17, so that was 15.

Um, yeah, I, that was one I had to watch that.

Um, I was working for sure, but it was, it was on the phone there at

work while I was, you know, in front of me doing my emails or whatever.

Uh, and yeah, I mean, it's, that was nasty.

That was, that's the, that's the, that's the Kuskie that frankly, I think we

thought we were gonna get all year.

I mean, back in the fall, that's kind of how he looked.

You know, there, there were a lot of scouts were following him.

Um, you know, it's still the kind of thing.

Somebody might, if he pitches like this through the end of the year, it

still might be a scout that's like, "Hey, I like him. Maybe now we can get

him out of the bargain. Who knows?"

Yeah, I mean, couple more solid outings for him.

And I mean, I think the big test for him will be Friday down at Coastal Carolina.

Yeah, for

sure.

You know, playing one of the best teams in the country, if he can go

replicate that, he's gonna pop back up on everyone's radar pretty quickly.

But he-

Which is funny, because I was pointing out to you that if you look at

Coastal's numbers, they aren't super impre- like they're hitting, it was

now 270 of the team, actually went up a little bit, but like 270 is a team,

their ERA is, it was a little higher.

I mean, it's, they're, they have a couple of guys having like solid years.

Actually, two of their better hitters only have like half as many at bats.

I don't know if they were hurt or they worked their way into it,

but like, they're not like a team where you look at it like, man,

these guys, this is Murderers Row.

Every single guy in this lineup is hitting 350 with 10 home runs.

Like it's, I, I think it's just a case of what we saw when we played them, when

we played them last year, they get hit by pitches, um, they grind, they go out and

they fight, they're just a, a good team.

So with, with Kuskie, his big thing is that he did it on Friday, just

don't walk, guys, don't beat yourself.

Mm-hmm.

And even when he had cut back on his walks towards the middle of

the year, he was getting hit a ton.

I mean, giving up seven, eight, nine hits and outing, and I think he's

found the, the happy medium there.

Uh, Coastal's dealt with a lot of injuries this season.

I think, uh, Cameron Fluke pitched for them today and they lost to Georgia

Southern, but I think that was either the first or maybe the second time

Flukey's pitched since his injury.

So I think they're, they're gonna get better, at least from a pitching

perspective, but they play like a team that doesn't have the best talent in

the Sunbelt, even though they do have the best talent, but they- Right.

... crowd the play, they get hit by the pitch, they do all the dirty work stuff too.

And that's why they're, that's why they made the College World

Series final last year because they, they do all the things- Yeah.

and they have the talent to back it up.

Yeah.

They're, I mean, that's the thing.

The, they're a great example of, like, just fight, just refuse to lose.

Um, I'm, I'm having trouble right now finding, uh, the number of hit by pitches.

I know they have 112, which sounds like a crazy amount.

It's, it's a lot.

They were up there last year too.

That's, that's bananas.

Um, where are we at just for, you know, I feel like we've been hit a fair amount.

We're at 75 and I feel like we've been hit plenty.

Yeah.

So just to tell you, they, they're racking up 30 more than

we have, 40 more than we have.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's their thing.

And then they, and they said they're

I did not enjoy their fans last year.

I'm glad that frankly, they'll be on the road.

They, they were complaining, complaining about getting hit by pitches, like,

man, you guys are leading the entire country and getting hit by a pitches.

Like, you think it might be you and not us.

Like every, y'all do ... Oh, to me, it was like, are y'all doing this every week?

You're out here every week, like, complaining about this?

Yeah, well, 1:12, right?

And depending on what happened this weekend, they would be

leading the country with 112.

Yeah.

I mean, it's part of their approach.

Yeah.

They stand right on top of the plate and force you to throw strikes

to throw it away, one of the two.

And we just didn't.

We want to throw inside on them, and if breaking ball cuts

too much, it is what it is.

Yeah.

Um, but then- And then,

and then, uh, there you go.

You, you're right what I was gonna say, go for it.

My

bad.

I was like, the, the baby faced assassin if you dumbed him and that

caught on with someone on social media-

Yeah.

but

three innings save, no runs, no hits, one walk, four- I

caught on with his, his dad is who it caught on with.

Okay.

All the dads like that one.

There were some other folks too, but that was, yeah.

Well, if I felt like leaning into some AI, I'm sure I could, you know, implement

the little baby sticking the gun out of the crib like you described last week.

Shooting like a baseball out would be, yeah.

Yeah.

Someone I think is managing his social media because I was getting a, a

tweet from him while I was watching him pitch on TV- That's funny.

... for a second, I thought ESPN+ had betrayed me with a long delay again, but no.

Right.

No, it's, uh, somebody else is on there.

Yeah.

But just really a perfect game for us on that first game on Friday.

Yeah.

I mean, you've got seven runs on the board by the end of the third.

It's seven nothing.

Mm-hmm.

Tanton just eat the final three innings there, you don't burn

any arms and you get a shutout.

Yeah.

Game two-

And I, and I saw some people arguing that like, "Well, why are you

throwing Tanton in that game when you're already up by that much?"

And it's like, I guess it's a fair argument, but what you just

said makes the most sense, right?

It's like you need somebody, you need those last three

innings to get eaten, right?

Put Ben out there, you know he's gonna do it, you know he's gonna win.

Okay.

Then we got our other arms available.

He's been kind of throwing consistently on Fridays.

He's still a freshman.

I mean, we forget that because he's been so good, but like let him have that

routine, let him go out and dominate.

And we, we take the first game of a series, which we need.

We need to win the series.

We need to win the games.

So I think there, there's an argument for, you know, you throw somebody

else out there and you know, but we also, we saw last weekend how hard

it is to get five out, uh, to get two outs without giving up five runs.

So- Yes.

With one of your better

pitchers

too.

Yeah, right.

So sometimes like, hey, who looked dominant again today, right?

So, um, yeah, sometimes it's just go out and get the win.

And any of those arguments were a moot point after game two- Right.

... because we did not score.

So you could have brought Justin Herlander back out and we,

we

might still be playing that game, but uh, it's not like, you know, we, we lost like

an 11 to nine game or something like that.

It was six to nothing in game two.

The guys just looked kind of beat.

They look like they didn't have any energy left, especially towards

the second half of that game.

And, you know, give, uh, Arkansas state credit.

I mean, their pitching staff was fantastic in that second game.

Uh, Tyler Weimer, five and a third, no runs, two hits, no walks, six strikeouts.

I mean, just, just kind of filled the zone up a lot with strikes and if we were

making contact, it was right at somebody.

Yeah.

Their guys look pretty good all weekend.

I mean, we, we just didn't in that game, because that, that was, I was able

to get to the ballpark for that game.

Um, a lot of hitting it right at guys.

Um, it was a very cold, I mean, it got cold again for, it was warmer

today, uh, but, you know, the ball's not going anywhere, cold and windy.

Um, and, and again, just some bad luck maybe, but also maybe not

having the most competitive at bats.

Um, yeah.

Yeah, because I, I didn't think the pitching staff did that poorly.

I mean, JJ Gatti went four and two thirds, only allowed two runs.

Yeah.

I mean, I'll, I'll take that on a Saturday start all day.

Uh, you know, Jason is a little bit rocky letting two runs in, but for the

most part, we were, we were fine as a pitching staff the whole weekend.

Yeah.

And Chris Cavalcante looked very nice at the end of the game.

He's got a bright future ahead of him.

S- I tell you, he's one of those guys gets you excited every time you see him.

It's like, man, if you can just lock in and then really, you know, hopefully

whatever, if he's ... I, I, I doubt he's gonna go throw this summer, but

if he's gonna go work out and, and get bigger and stronger and, and work on

his pitches, I mean, you could really see some, a guy that's got a lot of r-

talk about a perfect pitcher body too.

The guy's like six, seven or whatever he, six, six.

I don't know what he is.

Um, he's too big for shoes.

I know that.

Uh, he's-

Wingspan's insane.

Yeah.

He probably, he, I bet he could do like a 360 dunk on somebody.

Frank, frankly, the basketball team should be trying to get him.

I don't know.

The kid, kid is, uh, uh, yeah, he, he looks good.

That ball's already like touching home plate as he lets go of it.

Yeah.

It's not coming from 60 feet, six inches, so I'll tell you that.

It's much, much closer and right on top of your head, uh, as he's delivering it.

So, and, and Tyler Stott came in, he got two outs as well.

I was, I was glad to see him get another shot after last weekend- Yeah.

just to kinda maybe just get that bad taste out of your mouth from last

week and kinda go back to the, the happier times of the weekend before.

Yeah.

Uh, but, you know, obviously not, not a good one and that made today's

game all the more important and-

Yes.

... got it done today.

I mean, off the jump, it was in good shape.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And Okownkwo, you know, he gave up three runs, only one was earned.

So again, not, you know, not like last week where he threw threes scoreless

twice, you know, uh, and Bailey gave up one run and two and a third.

Uh, but then Slopezio came in and looked, uh, outstanding- Yeah.

... three scoreless innings.

Um, Max Jack came in, again, earned that victory because he looked really

good at the end when, when Nick just maybe ran out of gas a little bit.

Um, and yeah, the pitching was, was good.

I mean, again, you give up four runs of a game, like, you should win that game.

In a college game, especially, you give up four runs, you should win that game.

So I'm glad that we worked that out at the end to make that happen.

Big hits.

Um, yeah, Brody Connors had a great day playing second base, two for

four, had a big hit there at the end.

Um, I think his run was the one that, um, TJ drove in to Ty it.

Yes.

I'm pretty sure.

Yeah, that's when, yeah, um, Cole McKinnon came in to run for him.

Um, TJ, you know, again, he's, he's been sucked.

It's not, I was talking to him right after.

I was like, "Hey, man, just having fun, right?" He's like, "Yeah, it's

like just see the ball, hit the ball, be athletic."He's like, "It

take, took me a minute, you know.

He did be the first one to tell you, he's a little slow sometimes.

He forgets sometimes.

So he's, it's, it's hard.

It's hard in the moment to remember, like, just be an athlete.

He plays a more emotion than you sometimes see, especially if you're

just watching the TV broadcast.

Yeah.

Like he cares a lot about- He

really does.

about how he plays, but all right, uh, you wanna hit players of the week real quick?

Uh, sure, unless we have somebody waiting.

Is nobody waiting or-

Uh, Brody's actually on, is on-

Let's do it after the, let's do it after the fact.

It's not keeping guys waiting.

They got stuff to do.

All right, awesome.

Well, we'll bring Brody on here in just one second.

Brody, welcome to the show.

Hey, how we doing?

Brody.

How y'all doing?

Uh,

look at rep in California in the back.

We love it.

Here we go.

Yep.

Did, uh, were you forced to put that up today by Scotty or, or what's the deal?

No, I've had this thing up, but I think he'd appreciate it.

S- him and Zach.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I say, it's, we got a lot of California guys.

It's kinda, it's kinda great.

We all live, we all grew up in like a 20 minute circle and I, I didn't know

either of them, which is hilarious.

Yeah, a little older.

Yeah, that's funny.

Yeah.

That is pretty awesome.

Well, are, have you recovered your voice a little bit?

I'm sure you were yelling in the dugout the end of the game today.

I'm trying.

You, you heard me cougher.

There it is.

Yeah, yeah.

A little bit.

I was a little fired up, but- Yeah.

No, me too.

I told him the same thing.

I usually have a day before you do this.

I can recover

a little

bit.

Yeah.

100%. No, yeah, that was a fun game.

Yeah, you definitely played a big part in the, in the win today, getting the start

today at second and going two for four.

I guess, uh, when did you find out you were starting today and, and how were

you feeling leading up to the game?

Uh, I walked down to the field and y- and Mav's, Mav's been

unbelievable rec- as of recently.

His, his glove's amazing.

I got, I was really confused for a bit.

But yeah, I, I was super, super stoked and had a lot of fun doing it.

That was, that was kind of what I was trying to, like, do is try to have

as much fun and then see how I could, you know, help and contribute today.

Yeah, I have to imagine, you know, this is your second year here, um,

few less at bats this year, but you've been a lot more productive actually

this year with the batch you've had.

Yeah.

You know, as a guy who, in high school, you're probably playing

every single day, I have to imagine.

How has that been trying to adjust to not always being in there, never really

knowing when you're get, sometimes going weeks without getting a chance.

How have you made that adjustment?

I mean, first of all, it's not like, it's not a lot of fun.

It's not a lot of fun at first, but- Yeah,

that's fair.

Honestly, it's just, just being ready, trusting your process, kind of what

you're doing every day and, you know, just kinda being a good teammate that b-

uh, yeah, being a good teammate always is ... If you could, if you could help,

if you can help some people, you'll end up helping yourself at some point, so

Yeah, and then, you know, just working every day, been getting stronger.

So that's been a big thing, just trying to be ready every chance I get.

Well, definitely

look like- Yeah, as I say, you always seem like a great teammate.

You seem like you're always, like, involved.

I've never, I've never once seen you sitting around looking like, wow, Brody

looks like he's feeling sorry for himself.

Yeah.

Like, that's, that's,

that's, that's how you stay ready too.

Yeah.

There's that and, like, when I ... Uh, I did a little bit as a freshman

just because, like, I was- No, like, really early on, I was just

like, "Oh my God, this, this, what am I doing?" But, um- You're on the

other side of the country too, yeah.

Yeah, too.

That, that, that was a big adjustment.

But at the end of the day, it's just if I, I, I wanna give

more th- more than I take it.

If I can be, if I can help someone else that I c- I'm contributing

to the cause of the team.

If I can help someone out or I can kinda talk, talk to some guys through

some stuff, and that's always a way that you can kinda stay involved.

Yeah.

Seeing the game from a little bit different perspective-

Yeah,

definitely.

... kinda not getting locked in too much on the actual play on the field.

Yeah, definitely.

You can also see a bunch of stuff that you can't see when you're playing.

Mm-hmm.

So- What are some

examples of that?

Just like, um, s- say like when runners are like rounding bases,

like backpick opportunities, just stuff that you can kinda see and

then like picking up pictures, like patterns and stuff like that.

Sometimes you're, when you're, when I'm playing, I get a little bit, I don't

look at, look at the big picture, but-

You're thinking more field the ball, where's it coming from?

Yeah.

Those kind of things rather than

like- Yeah, I'm very- ... What's this

runner behind me doing?

Very one, one dimension, not one dimensional, but like-

Yeah.

you kinda, oh, this guy, this guy throws 91.92 with the slider.

Okay, let's go.

But where, when I'm kinda watching from afar, I can kinda see like, all

right he's throwing this and this count, he's kinda working hitters this

way and that way, stuff like that.

Yeah.

So I think that kinda helped a little bit, uh, especially as a freshman now,

kinda just being able to kinda like think about, think about stuff more like

as a ball player and react in that way.

Yeah.

Well, kind of an unusual schedule for you all this week, playing two

on the Friday, having the rain out Saturday, then coming back Sunday.

Uh, what did you do on the off day yesterday, a rare weekend off day?

It was weird.

I, I, I like, I, I had like time to do stuff.

I, uh, woke up, hit in the morning, um, kinda just laid in bed.

I've watched a movie.

That was weird.

What'd you watch?

The Gentleman.

It's like a, uh- Okay.

Yeah,

yeah.

It's like with like Matthew McConney, it's a good movie.

Yeah.

And then I end up- I think

Finney told us about that one time.

Yeah, it's a good movie.

And then I went down to Virginia Beach, me and my girlfriend

went down and had dinner.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nice.

All right.

So you had

nice- Yeah, got to be relaxed.

There you go.

Yeah,

I know.

Gorgeous some points there on the random Saturday off

day during the season.

Oh, yep.

Love, gotta love that.

Yeah.

So Brody, we, we haven't had you on the podcast for, so I tell everybody,

like you said, you're from California.

How in the world do you end up on the other side of the

country coming to Old Dominion?

Yeah, it's kinda, it's kind of a long story, but-

That was you asking yourself that, that first month as a freshman.

Yeah.

Right?

Yeah.

I had a, I had a weird, I had a really weird first couple months as a freshman

here, but I know, I committed pretty late.

I committed my Jan- in January of my senior year.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, because I thought, I thought I was gonna go somewhere on the

West Coast, but then, um, you, you guys remember Ryan Fineman?

Yep.

Yeah.

He's, he's a California guy, so he's out there a fair bit, so he kinda just, he,

he ended, he talked to me about all the good stuff that, that this program had to

offer and it sounded good, came out here.

I, I like Norfolk a fair, a lot compared, compared to what I thought it

was gonna be, so that was pretty cool.

And, um- What did you think

it was gonna be?

Just curious.

Not,

not like, not, uh, uh, I don't know how to, I don't know what I, I didn't

really have like a mental image.

Yeah.

I thought it was gonna be, I thought it was gonna be a little bit less industrial.

Mm-hmm.

Like, but with the military, the military town around, I

think the area's really cool.

Downtown's really fun.

Yeah.

Got some good restaurants and stuff down there.

But yeah, I mean, I thought it was, I didn't think it was gonna

be as, I, I didn't think I was gonna enjoy it as much as I did.

So I ended up committing at breakfast on my last day of my visit, so

There you go.

Well,

that's awesome.

That was fun.

Yeah.

Well, I know you all kind of live there close to the ballpark, but

who are your housemates this year?

I'm with Hunter Baynes, Cole Lanford, and Chris Cavalcante.

Ooh.

Okay.

I'm the all- all pictures.

I like the house.

Yeah.

But- You just, you just walk

around telling them they're not athletes all day?

Oh, the entire day.

The whole time.

They-

I mean, there's two guys in your house that throw 90 plus.

That's not a, that's not a bad spot to be.

Yeah.

No.

It's, it, it's also really cool, especially because I can kind of bounce.

Like I, I just, uh, Hunter threw live for the first time that, uh,

the other day and I, I faced him.

So him and I like talked for like an hour about every, like ev-

everything that kind of went on.

It was really cool.

Kind of getting to bounce ideas off of everything, kind of seeing

a different perspective too, so

... Little self scouting there.

Kind of.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hunter, Hunter looked really good.

Yeah, so I think Finny said he's gonna throw on, uh, Tuesday, so that'd be

pretty good.

Yeah, we'll see.

I, I mean, I, I, that he's always so much fun to play behind and watch.

Mm-hmm.

When you're playing behind him, you don't really have to do too much.

Hang out.

Yeah.

I mean, that's, that's gonna be a little reality check for Richmond.

I mean, playing in the 810, they played against us a couple times-

Oh, that's what I told him.

was 98, the first pitch.

Yeah, that's-

I told him the other day, the first guy's gonna poop himself.

Yeah, I still remember his first time appearance at Georgia Tech.

He, he went like 98, 98 and then like big curve ball, just the guy buckled.

I'm like, "Oh my God, this guy's disgusting."

Yeah.

I mean, that's almost like a, a Trade deadline acquisition for us as we

get near the end of the year- Yeah.

getting ready to go to the Sunbelt tournament.

I mean, it's a pretty damn good arm to be adding back.

Uh, that's not ... Yeah.

No, I don't think anyone's gonna complain with him.

Him on the bump.

It's, he's not ... For as much as I face him, I still haven't figured him out.

It's the, it's not ... The, the fastball is just, you guys all see it, but it's,

it's off speed stuff that's so good that gets you just off that fastball.

That's just, it's 97, 98.

And, and if you're kinda, if you've seen a lot of soft stuff or anything like that,

which none of this stuff's soft, but-

No.

Right.

I mean, he's throwing a, he throwing a cutter at like 90 miles an hour.

I'm like, it's crazy.

Not even, not even fair.

No.

Not even

fair.

Oh.

But he, he's a good guy.

Um- Yeah,

I love Hunter.

I'm a big fan.

Cole- Cole's awesome too.

He's great to live with.

Chris, Chris is awesome too.

So I got, I got, I lucked out with my house.

Not saying I would-

Good house.

I wouldn't like living out there, living with anyone else, but I'm

really happy with these guys around.

Uh, d- who helped Cole pick out his outfit for the, uh, Golden Monach Awards?

I have no idea because I, I have no idea.

I, I don't, I wasn't at the house like before for like long.

I just, I saw him there.

I'm like, oh boy, this, that's about as cool as it gets.

Yeah.

And then they get him best dressed on top of it.

Oh, dude that, that, that, that just made, that made everybody's night.

It was a good

time.

Oh, fantastic.

Oh, don't worry.

I'm, I'm about to have the picture up, so don't worry here.

There you go.

Uh, so Brody, you know, you, you played, uh, second to day, you played mostly

third, a little bit of second too.

What position do you like playing?

From lacrosse.

Yeah, you're good.

Kia and then, and then- Okay, cool.

Cool, yeah.

The mustache place- I think he actually like has a good s- yeah, mustache is just-

Mustache is awesome.

Love this kid.

It's like he,

he's on the

rodeo maybe actually.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

On the, the steer team, yeah.

Yeah,

no doubt.

But what position do you, do you like playing best or do you

feel like you're the best at?

Um, I don't, I don't really have a preference.

It's just kind of playing it a little, you kind of just play it a little different.

Uh, there's no real like preference.

I think, I mean third base you have less time to think.

So that's kind of funny you kind of let, let it eat across the diamond.

The second, I like, I like second because I have more kind of freedom with how I

move to, to attack the ball, but I really don't, I don't really have a preference.

Third base, I, I do like the third base like kind of stuff gets hit

really hard at you, so you kind of got to make do with what you kind

of, the situation at hand, but-

Yeah.

I, but I like both of them a lot.

Now I heard, um, you and a couple of our freshmen who are red shirt in

this year, Case, uh, Cam Telefon and, uh, JJ Hand, you guys are going to go

play for the Winchester Royals- Yeah.

in the Valley League in the summer.

Yeah, you're looking for, I have to imagine, if nothing else,

looking forward to go up there and hopefully just get to play a lot.

Yeah.

That's kind of the main thing I kind of, being able to play every day should be

a ni- a nice thing along with kind of being people I know, so that, that, that

always helps and like, yeah, coming, compared to coming here, know, knowing

no one, it, it'll be cool that I have people around plus I have a couple buddies

that live close, girlfriend's family lives close, so I'll, I'll be around

people, so I'll be, I'll, I'll end up seeing, uh, Rocky Green, remember him?

Oh yeah.

A lot.

Is he gonna play there too?

Or is he-

No, he, he, he's, um, he's like a 45 minute drive away, so-

Okay, yeah.

Yeah, we're, we're gonna probably golf a couple times.

Heck yeah.

Good kid, man, like

Rocky.

He's one, he's awesome.

Did he end up playing somewhere this year or,

uh- No, he, um, he had the, he had the surgery and he's returning to throw now.

He's gonna play at BMI next year.

Oh, good for him.That's a

great hot,

that's a

great spot for guys.

Real stoked for him.

I was on the phone with him for that.

That's really

cool.

Yesterday catching up.

That's awesome.

That's exciting to hear that.

Good

for him.

For sure.

Absolutely.

The Valley's such a fun league to play in too because there's so many of those

like old like small town ballparks that still exist there with like 500 seats and

most people are standing with like coolers at their feet and things like that.

Just a, it's a cool, cool vibe for a summer league out there.

I'm, I'm excited.

Yeah.

I, especially because I'm gonna go to some of the parts of the

country that I've never been.

Yeah.

You

will, you will see some places that nobody's ever been.

I'm excited.

I, I think- Yeah.

I, I didn't play summer ball last year coming in.

I had a broken thumb.

I was

... So

I, I'm excited to kind of experience that now.

Kinda, kind of a more, not lackadaisical, but like kind of a more relaxed, just

get, going out there doing, playing baseball, hanging out, no school.

Yeah.

Nice.

I was

gonna say no classes is probably a

good

little boy too.

Yeah.

I was d- before, uh, before I hopped on this, I was getting

most of my homework done.

Yeah, no, we appreciate you.

I know, I knew that was a thing in the finals right now.

Yeah.

But yeah, I'm just trying to get all of it done before head out to Conway.

Yeah, because yeah, it's finals week and all that fun stuff, but

pretty soon you will be free and just be able to play baseball.

Like that is on the horizon for you.

Oh yeah.

That's, that's what's, that's what's getting me through it.

Almost there.

Almost there.

Can see the light.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Well, Brody, we greatly appreciate your time.

Yes.

Uh, congrats on the win today and, and getting a couple hits and, and, you

know, playing a big, big part in that comeback win today to win this series.

So thanks so much, Brody.

Thank, thanks for having me on.

Have a good day, y'all.

Yeah, Brody.

Appreciate you, man.

Take care.

Oh, that's all right.

He's

a good kid, man.

Uh, he's, he's a dog.

He's, I didn't get bring up, but he's, you know, shoot for four today, he's four of

his last six with a double and two RBIs.

Yeah.

Um, and, and two runs scored in that time.

And he's, you know, he, he doesn't get a lot of chances, but it's one of those,

like, every time, I think last year we talked about it a few times where

it's like every time you see him we're like, man, there should be a way to

get this guy in the, in the game more.

And again, it's hard right now.

He plays second and third, um, and you got Zadalis and, and Stallings, um, but he

should definitely be a pinch hit option.

I mean, he's a guy that you just, he's a gamer.

He's just one of those guys that when you see him, if you get to see, I think if

you got to see him play over the course of like a whole weekend, it's like you'd

like him a lot and he's just who he is.

Yeah.

And, you know, I, I said on last week's podcast, I was standing

behind the, the screen watching the guys take batting practice- Yeah.

... and Rody Connors was pretty consistently having the hardest hit balls there

and hitting them to center, left center gap, right center gap.

I mean, really crushing the baseball.

So I was glad to see that pay off and-

Yeah.

... you know, he, he gets to start today and he steps up in a big way and it pays off.

I mean, going two for four is not an easy thing to do.

Yeah.

Uh, sometimes in college baseball with the, the guys that are throwing out there.

All right, well, we're gonna take a quick break.

We're gonna get back.

We're gonna talk players of the week.

We got another, uh, ODU player hopping on potentially, so we may have that,

but we'll be back here in just a minute.

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Yeah.

All right.

Welcome back.

Thanks Blaine.

Thanks, Blaine, as always.

Uh, we got a Maddox Jack here in just a minute.

Um, but I want to show one thing because I will forget later

and I'm hoping to do this now.

But you got potentially my favorite photo that I've ever

seen at OD Baseball and you got.

Okay.

Oh yeah, that's

fun.

It's fun.

Yeah.

And you, you didn't notice Bud was in the background at the

time?

No, what's, that's so funny is, yeah, I was just happy that like, because I'm kind

of looking down the line at an angle where the net really could be a problem, and

so I was just happy Scotty was in focus.

It's a pretty cool shot of him making a hard catch.

And then, you know, you crop it and share it that way.

I'm like, oh, I didn't realize the picture of Buds in the background

like made it look even better.

Like, I'm just totally focused.

It's kind of what I'm, I'm focused on the guy.

Like, I'm not the artistic photographer.

I'm, I'm focused on, I want the player doing the thing they're doing so

them and their family can enjoy them.

Um, you know, it's not about being an artist or whatever, I think, which,

yeah, some of the photographers do that and they're phenomenal at it.

I'm not gonna, it's just not who I am.

Um, but yeah, so it's funny that you did that, you're like, "You didn't see that?

" I

mean, it's, it was kind of like a foreshadowing for what was about to

occur because he hits the walk off- Yeah.

in this game against VCU, hits the walk off today.

Uh, it's all out there on social media and, you know, feel free to take a look.

If you're listening on audio, only hop over to YouTube real

quick and, and check it out.

But, uh, I just, just thought it was just the perfect picture and then for what's

transpired, it's even more fitting now.

Yeah.

It's great.

So.

Good job, CB.

We appreciate it.

I like when I do cool stuff.

Yeah, it's, it's fun.

I mean, I really enjoy it.

I get to go to games and hang out and watch sports and take pictures and,

you know, it's, it's a cool thing.

I said, you know, a lot of the players, some of, a lot of them appreciate

it now, but I was like, no, I was, I was talking to Garrett Spar's

dad before, uh, Grayson Sparkary.

Grace and Spahr's dad before the game and I said, you know, they'll, they'll

appreciate it more than a few years.

Like, you know, parents, everybody, y'all appreciate it now, which is,

you know, so it's, how it goes.

It's cool.

Yeah.

They'll have all those for their LinkedIn photos and stuff later on if

they're not playing pro ball somewhere.

There you go.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Well, we want to bring on our second guest of the episode today.

Maddox, Jack, welcome to the show, sir. This guy.

Hey, what's up, guys?

Thanks for having me

on.

We're going, we're going to the three man front here.

Oh yeah.

Figure out

how

too much face.

Keep sliding away.

We good?

Have this back a little bit or something.

Yeah.

Maddox, how you feeling after the game today?

Feeling good, man.

I'm pretty pumped up after that win.

It was a pretty exciting win there.

Hey guys.

Yeah, how do you like that?

You get two walk offs, giving you two, two victories on your, on your ledger.

That's, that's pretty neat, man.

Oh yeah, I know, man.

It's exciting.

First two career victories of my college career, so it's exciting.

So Scotty Young is gonna eat ev- eat at the Max house or the,

the Jackhouse forever, right?

I know, right?

I know, right?

Just

drop in anytime and have dinner, you guys, like, we have to give him food, I guess.

I guess, yeah.

It's pretty exciting.

Yeah.

It's great, man.

Maddox, you come in, you get the final two outs of the game here, earning the win.

Uh, take us through kind of getting ready in the bullpen.

What were you guys talking about?

And then of course, once you got on the mound, uh, what

was your mindset from there?

Yeah, so I knew I was coming in if, if Sulpizio got in a sticky situation, so

I was just out there, me and Pawn get in the pin working, just got in there

and I knew I had to do my job to get those two outs and I, I knew as soon

as I got those two outs that we were gonna come back in and score and do

what we did against VCU, which is cool.

Would you, would you call it CB earlier quiet confidence with this team now?

That sounds like it.

Yeah.

That's what, yeah, that's what it feels like.

I felt really confident going into the bottom of the ninth there with those

guys and the situation we had for sure.

Yeah.

And that's when they were coming in from the field.

I was like, all right, we get it right here.

We're walking it off.

Let's go.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That's what I was feeling too.

So Maddux, have you been getting meaner?

'Cause I mean, I know you're like a nice, you are, Maddux is no, I'm not even

like, Joe Maddox is one of the nicest human beings I think I've ever met.

Like you, like his face right now, he's smiling, that's like always smiling.

Yeah.

I think Finny even said that at one point, like, I think

Maddox needs a little meaner.

Are you get, are you feeling like you're getting meaner on the mound?

Man, I feel, I feel like in the mound I'm a little different.

I'm a different guy.

Yeah.

Going to get into someone's, you know, but you know, person, I like to be who I am.

Yeah.

Change a little bit on the mound.

You get the Ricky Vaughn when you come in from the bullpen now.

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

Uh, what, what is your music when you come out?

I can't remember off the top of my head.

It's, uh, it's a rapper.

It's Louisi Vert.

It's, uh, called 20 Minutes.

Sure.

Vinny isn't too big of a fan of it, I reckon, but- Oh.

It's for you, so it's all right.

It'll be okay.

Yeah.

All I know about that guy is it, it seems like the most ... I mean, obviously

it's a made up name, but it's like the most made up name of all made up names.

It's like little Uzi for ... You just, that was like, like you just had like the

word board and just threw darts at it.

Yeah.

The, the youth seemed to like it, so we're not gonna ... I don't

know, I don't even know a song to, to comment on it other than- Gets a

little rhythm going.

Sure.

There you go.

Whatever it is, it, it's work for you.

Uh, two outings in a row here getting a walk off wind behind you too.

Yeah.

It's pretty good.

So, yeah, can't, can't change it now even if you stop like Nancy, sorry.

Yeah.

Well- Yeah, so, well, well, speaking of that, you, you've had a, a pretty

great season for having, you know, missed last year with the, with the

injury, recovering this year you had a few weeks ago, a couple of hiccups,

like you had, I think it was Georgia Southern Eastern, East Carolina.

That's about it.

And then you've been right back to ... So what, what do you think was

going on that kind of caused that?

And then how have you gotten back to where you were when you started the year?

Well, those two, obviously they weren't my best performances.

Right.

And me and Marin met after those performances and just talked

about what I needed to lock in and fix and almost be like more

focused and attacking the hitters.

I felt like I was kind of a little back and not being who

I am as a pitcher, you know?

And like we kind of just look back at what I used to be as a pitcher

and it was just like I need to get back there and attack the hitters.

And, you know, I just feel like I was lacking a little bit of

confidence that I usually have.

So it was like, I, the last couple outings I've just been, man, just letting

loose and being free and being who I am and who I know I am as a pitcher and

just attacking the guys and going out there for a force and just knowing my

stuff's good and then I'm better, so

... I mean, sometimes that's the thing is like, failure's not bad

if you alert and grow from it.

Indeed.

I felt like I grew from those outings for sure.

I feel like it wasn't like I needed those outings, but like- Yeah.

... I definitely grown as a pitcher from those optics and took, took a lot of

lessons and a good talk with Marin and it helped down the road, I guess.

There you go.

That's what we want.

Well, we asked Brody this question a little while ago, so I asked you too,

with the weird schedule this weekend, two Friday, one Sunday, what'd you do on your

random off Saturday during the season?

Uh, so I mean, we still had to go to the field and get our work in.

Oh

yeah.

So Philly got my work in and my, my, my dad was here this weekend,

so I went and hanged out, uh, hung out with him and just went and ate.

Other than that, just hung out.

It was pretty gloomy day, so- Yeah.

... had a whole lot going on, but went to the field and then went and

got some food with my, my dad.

There you

go.

Not too bad.

It's pretty

solid off day.

I mean- That's not bad at all.

So, uh, I'm not, I'm honestly not sure if I ever knew exactly.

So you had an injury that caused you to miss last season.

What was that injury?

So the senior year of my high school, I didn't get to play at all and I, I

got, uh, the internal brace surgery.

It's not the, it's basically Tommy John, but not the same.

I got the internal brace and completely missed my senior year

high school and then got that surgery in the May of 2024, so year two.

Yeah, so it took about a year of recovery.

Yeah, okay.

Yeah.

So how do you, how I mean, do you feel like you're kind of back to how you were?

I mean, hopefully, obviously more, you know, physically mature and,

and have learned some things, but do you feel like physically you're

kind of back to being yourself?

Phys- physically I feel better than ever lately.

Like my body's better, my arm, my strength, I feel a lot like better than

I did coming back, so that's a plus.

Had to be rough to go two years not playing when that's

like your thing, right?

It was, it was difficult for sure.

I mean, taking two years off of baseball, it really-

Yeah.

... perspective and changed my identity for sure.

Well, and last year had to be strange too because like you guys who were

red shirting, you really weren't like dressing with the team, you really

weren't like tra- like you guys didn't go on the road, you even, even here

at, at Harbor Park and, and y'all were in the stands a lot of times.

Yeah.

That had to have been strange too.

It, it was odd.

It was different for sure for me and some of those guys.

It was.

Yeah.

So it's, I mean, it's nice to, gotta be great to feel like, okay, now I'm, I am

part of the team and contributing, right?

Oh yeah, it's a blast, especially traveling with the guys and being a

part of a team like this, it's fun.

Yeah.

I mean, if, if they're all like this week, I mean, you're set, right?

Oh yeah.

Yeah, that's a good, good weekend right there.

Yeah, definitely.

Well, tell us a little bit about what your pitches, what you're throwing and,

and like what's your pitch you throw and I just, I gotta have a strike right here.

So lately I've been more of like a fastball slider using

the four seam fastball and then going with that gyro slider.

And then I also have a curve ball on the chains up, so yeah,

throwing that hard gyro slider.

Gi- what makes it a gyro slider because I do not even begin to know-

It's not, it doesn't have the sweep.

It's more of like the, the bullet stuff.

Okay.

Hmm.

Interesting.

Yeah.

It's the same one as like Kellen, Kellen and, uh, Darren.

Yeah.

Oh,

okay.

Yeah.

Interesting.

This is where pitchers have too much time in their hands.

They just come up with new names for things and-

Yeah.

I was

actually-

That was actually a pitch we, uh, built over the off season.

Yeah.

It's pretty cool.

That's great, man.

Yeah.

So, um, how, so you're from Hickory, North Carolina.

Um- Not too far away, not quite, we had, we had to Brody on minute goes

from the other side of the country.

Yeah.

Uh, but still, how, how did you end up at Old Dominion?

Oh, so I mean, I was getting recruited my freshman year of high school.

I committed here actually sophomore year before my high school season,

so I committed here really early.

That's a really,

yeah.

I remember coming here visiting a few times and then going to

a camp and I was talking about- Yeah, I can remember seeing you

at the camp, yeah.

I was talking to several, several colleges and I remember like

at that time, you can't really, you can't really come on visit.

So I came to the camps and met with the staff and I felt like me and Maren

clicked the first call we had together and it was pretty cool connection that

we had and yeah, so I thought this was the spot to be at and I felt like

this would help my development in a different way than the other schools

and just that connection with Marin and then initially Robin, uh, Logan Robbins

recruited me as well, so but- Wow.

Yeah, so I committed here a long

while.

It was an early commit.

Like we keep, yeah, we keep hearing Fineman lately and then

yeah, you don't hear a lot of-

Yeah, actually yeah,

Rogan

came to a lot of my games early on as a freshman and then like once

we started to keep going into our games, he got a connection with Marin

and then me and Marin just clicked.

That's great, man.

Yeah.

Well, obviously a long journey back for you to get to this season to where

you're throwing so much, but what was the toughest part of that like recovery and

rehab to get back to where you are now?

Toughest part, man.

It was just being away from baseball and having to figure out who I am

without it was definitely a struggle for me and, but yeah, I felt like,

uh, it's made me who I am and made me a, like a better baseball player.

So, I mean, but it was definitely tough being away from it and watching these

guys go out and play and me not able to compete, especially my senior year, just

missing all of that was, it, it, it hurt a little bit, but it was, it was good

for the long road and it just made me who I am today as a pitcher and player, so

I have to imagine, especially in high school, because I have to believe

you were probably the best pitcher on the team also, so not having that,

that the team probably didn't have quite as much success as maybe you

could have if you were available.

So yeah, that's the kind of thing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It was, it was definitely difficult, especially for the guys around me.

Right.

But I do like, I love that the reality of like being forced to come

to that realization that, you know, you are a person without baseball.

Yeah.

And I think personally, a, a fantastic person.

I think you're one of the, one of the best guys.

Um, and so having that, being able to know that in yourself that like, "Hey,

I want this to work because I love this thing, but also whenever it's done,

you know, whether it's, you know, 20 years from now, if it's two years from

now, three years or whatever it is, um, you'll still be a great person.

That, that's a big, that's a big deal." Yeah.

Sometimes guys don't realize that.

Yeah.

It really sh- once I got injured, it really shifted

my perspective of everything.

It's changed my perspective of life and who I am and what I, what

I do and why I'm here, you know?

It's good, man.

Yeah.

Well, well, how excited are you to be playing in the new stadium

next year and finally be done with all this construction?

Oh man, I'm excited.

It's crazy to see all the work they got going on back there

and the progress they're making.

So I'm excited for that new locker room and everything-

Oh, I'm sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's been cool, but it's, it's gonna be, it's gonna be cool.

It's gonna be cool.

Yeah.

But I feel like it kinda makes us the team we are right now with how

we're, the conditions we're in.

I feel like it gives us little of that grit, you know?

Yeah,

the lunch pail thing, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

A year of being road warriors, then you come home and it's like

this modified home with all kinds of power tools going on behind you

during midweeks and things like that.

So-

Yeah.

Yeah.

You, you will be like, you're gonna be too comfy in the new ballpark.

I feel like you gotta rip up some of the, the couches or

something in the locker room.

Put some pine tar on, we'll be good to go.

Yeah.

It'd be great.

Well, Max, we, we appreciate you, man.

We're, it's been very exciting to see you have the success you've had, um,

you know, again, because you're just, you're an awesome guy and knowing that

what you had to fight through to get to, it makes it even more great to see.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you, Stevie.

Yeah.

Thanks so much, Maddox.

We appreciate it.

Uh, good luck next week and I hope to see you again here soon.

All right.

Thank you guys for having me.

Yeah.

All right, thanks.

Thanks, Max.

Appreciate you, man.

See you guys.

See

you.

Yeah.

Literally the nicest kid.

He really, I mean, like, he, you saw you smiling the entire time.

Like, that's, he's all, like, he's never not smiling.

It's so, like, what a good guy.

Yeah.

It, it, you'd love to see the guys who have had those injuries and had

to, you know, fight their way back.

And then you're hearing about missing, you had to miss your whole senior year and

then your whole freshman year and then, and didn't even really get to be like

I mean, this year, some of the guys that aren't playing or heard, they're

in the dugout and all still, it's like, man, that's, uh, that's, that's rough.

And for him to come through it is, is awesome.

So that's a lot about who he is as a person.

Yeah, definitely.

It was really funny you asked, did you get meaner?

And just his face lit up with a big smile, and I was like, "Well, I think

that answers your question, right?"

It's like who said I mean?

Yeah, who said you- Big

smile.

Yeah.

Uh-

Nobody Max, nobody ever would.

Yeah.

Well, we definitely appreciate, uh, Brody and Maddox hopping

on with us during finals week, literally a couple hours- Yes.

after the game is over, so greatly appreciate

that.

I'm literally asking them as we're like leaving the field, like, "Hey, are you

available?" Like, typically we have a little more, this was just kinda, you

know, just things ha- you know, obviously schedules happened, this is how it had to

go, and frankly, I think it's fantastic.

A couple of great guests, and we're doing great.

I think

it's, it's worked out perfectly, and it is completely my fault, because I have

30 flight to Chicago for work in the morning and will not be available, but-

We went to Chicago.

I, somebody asked earlier, and I was like, I'm not, in my head, I

was like, Chicago, but I had, I was not confident enough to say that.

Yeah.

It's, uh, yeah, I was, I'm disappointed for two reasons.

One, PJ Higgins got sent down to AAA by the Reds.

Yeah.

And I'm going to a Cubs Reds game while I'm up there.

And the other side, I think the, the highest temperature I'm going

to see is like 55 or 56 with wins, so basically- Give me like

80 here, be nice again.

Yeah, naturally.

Naturally, that's how it works out.

But-

Well-

Flip over players of the week.

I was gonna say, speaking of nice again, uh, some guys did great.

So we actually, oh, look at us doing whatever, because we, we

make the rules, so- That's right.

So, uh, well, we'll start with Pitcher.

It was, the pitcher of the week, I think was pretty obvious.

Uh, Darin Kuskie, six shutout innings, uh, 11 strikeouts, so season high.

Um, he was, he was dominant, he was phenomenal.

Um, Maddox Jack was right there in the conversation, had two appearances,

two wins, uh, one and two thirds scoreless, um, one strikeout,

only gave up a hit and a walk.

Ben Tanton, as you pointed out, had a great appearance there, uh, and relief

of Kusky, um, got the save, three scoreless innings, no hits, a walk,

four strikeouts, um, and Sulpizio.

Sulpizio had a great week.

He had two games, um, five innings pitched, no runs, four

hits, no walks, three strikeouts.

Um, so coming off of, you know, having a, a rough time down there

at Georgia State, got right back on the horse and looked great.

So I mean, so again, the, the pitching is moving in the right

direction for a lot of guys.

Um, yeah, any comments you want to say on the pitching, I'm sorry.

Uh, just Darin was scary good on Friday.

Yeah.

Like, I mean, just blowing dudes away at the plate, they had

no idea where it was coming.

Uh, I think, like, he's been, I think he's been unlucky as a pitcher

too with some of his nasty pitches getting hit in, in several starts.

It was good to see that come together and really happy for Nick Sulpizio

to be able to bounce back- Yeah.

... from last week and just shove this week for us.

I mean, it says a lot about your mentality, right, that you're not packing

it in, you're not whining and, and moping and saying, "Oh, man, I'm terrible."

You're just like, "Hey, you know what?

That, that happened.

Get back at it, you know, they still need me.

" Yeah.

That's the reality.

Every guy, if you have bad outing, it's like, "Hey, man, sorry that happened,

but we got another one coming up and we need you. We need the whole staff."

Yep.

So everybody's been throwing easy to keep throwing.

Um, so as far as players of the week, so the, I guess the actual

player of the week for the hitters, uh, would have been Will Johnson.

Will, uh, had a great week.

I, I actually made this graphic with, with, uh, Kuskie and Will before

the game even today because I knew we had to have a quick turnaround.

Um, I just assumed he was gonna have another, he had two more

hits today, so he was on it.

Um, so Will was seven for 13, uh, two doubles, four RBIs, couple

of walks, hit by pitch, couple of runs, so just a great week.

You hit over 500, you're doing some, something correctly, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

That'll, that'll work.

And played pretty great defense on top of that.

So, so Will is, uh, really a lot ... We've had some other guys that have kind

of been struggling and, and kind of moving in the wrong direction.

Will has been getting better as the year goes on, which is, is cool.

So, you know, and maybe that's being from Texas, it's getting warmer.

Uh, it's kind of the kind of thing that happened stalling the last couple years.

Amen have.

Yeah.

Um, so, well, speaking of Mav, he, he was on here list.

He was five out of 12 this week, had a double, uh, two runs, had

a steal, so he had a nice week.

Um, Efrain Morales, yet again, uh, seven for 16, a double, two

RBIs, a walk and hit by pitch.

So again, he's just continuing to be phenomenal.

Um, and then the guy who, who kinda literally shoved his way in the middle of

these two guys, we had to, we had to put him on the board here- ... Scotty Young.

Uh, Scotty, I mean, he was

So for the week, four for 12, four RBIs, a walk, hit by

pitch, a couple of runs scored.

Uh, but two of those four hits were walk off winners.

I mean, you can't do much better than that.

Uh, uh, I think what three of those four RBIs were, were walk off RBIs?

Yeah, they were.

Yeah.

So, I mean, that's, it's amazing.

Um, we, we hadn't had a walk off all last year and all the way up until,

what, a week or so ago, uh, now four last night have been walk offs.

I mean, that's, uh, one of our, one of our coaches, I don't want to call him out, one